Botanical/commercial classification: Petunia hybrida/Petunia Plant.
Varietal denomination: cv. xe2x80x98Sunbelrikupixe2x80x99. 
The Petunia is a very popular plant that is used for flower bedding and potting in the summer season. There are only a few small-flowered petunias, such as, xe2x80x98Suntory SP-Rxe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,577, xe2x80x98Sunberubuxe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,754), xe2x80x98Sunbelchipixe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,355) and xe2x80x98Sunbelukixe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,558). These Petunias are of the semi-decumbent type and have a medium plant height, abundant branching, and a high resistance to heat, rain and disease. However there are only a few varieties having a decumbent habit, a great profusion of flowers, a vivid reddish-purple flower color, a very small flower size, and a high resistance to rain, heat, cold and disease. Accordingly, this invention is aimed at obtaining a new variety having vivid reddish-purple petals, and very small flowers combined with the above features.
The new variety of Petunia plant according to this invention originated from crossing of xe2x80x98Sunbelchipixe2x80x99 variety as female parent (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,355) and the xe2x80x98Sunbelkupixe2x80x99 variety as male parent (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,287).
The crossing was conducted in May 1996 at the Oumi RandD Center of SUNTORY Ltd., located at 863-1, Aza-Iketani, Omori-cho, Youkaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan. From this crossing 50 seedlings were obtained and five seedlings were selected in view of their semi-erect growth habit and vivid reddish-purple colored petals at the end of September 1997. These five seedlings were grown and were tested and evaluated during potting and bedding trials. Only one plant of the present invention was selected in September 1998. The selected plant was propagated by the use of cuttings and then was grown in pots in a greenhouse trial and in the field at the Omi RandD Center from April to November 1999. The botanical characteristics of the finally selected plant were examined using the similar xe2x80x98Sunbelkupixe2x80x99 variety (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,287), for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this new Petunia plant is distinguishable from any other variety whose existence is known to me and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. This new variety of Petunia plant was named xe2x80x98Sunbelrikupixe2x80x99.
The new variety of the present invention can be readily distinguished from the xe2x80x98Sunbelrosxe2x80x99 variety (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 10/326,967, filed Dec. 24, 2002) and the xe2x80x98Sunbelrexe2x80x99 variety (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 10/327,030, filed Dec. 24, 2002) through an observation of the flower coloration. Each of these varieties had the same female parent. The new xe2x80x98Sunbelrikupixe2x80x99 variety of the present invention forms vivid reddish-purple flowers, the xe2x80x98Sunbelrosxe2x80x99 variety forms deep purplish-pink flowers, and the xe2x80x98Sunbelrexe2x80x99 variety forms deep red flowers.
In the following description, the color information is in accordance with The R.H.S. Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England. A color chart based on The Japan Color Standard for Horticultural Plants (J.H.S. Color Chart) is also added for reference.
The main botanical characteristics of the xe2x80x98Sunbelchipixe2x80x99 female parent variety are as follows:
Plant:
Growth habit.xe2x80x94Semi-decumbent.
Plant height.xe2x80x94Approximately 15-16 cm.
Spreading area of plant.xe2x80x94The stem extends to a length of approximately 11-13 cm from the base.
Blooming period.xe2x80x94April to late October in the southern Kanto area, Japan. The plant shape does not change throughout this period.
Stem:
Thickness.xe2x80x94Approximately 2.3 mm.
Pubescence.xe2x80x94Present.
Branching.xe2x80x94Abundant with the superior branching propensity, especially secondary branches.
Length of internode.xe2x80x94Approximately 1.4 cm.
Leaf:
Shape.xe2x80x94Lanceolate.
Length.xe2x80x94Approximately 5.1 cm.
Width.xe2x80x94Approximately 1.6 cm.
Color.xe2x80x94Dark yellow-green (R.H.S. 146A, J.H.S. 3508).
Thickness.xe2x80x94Approximately 0.2-0.4 mm.
Pubescence.xe2x80x94Sparse.
Leaf attachment angle to stem.xe2x80x94Slanted upward to horizontal.
Flower:
Facing direction.xe2x80x94Horizontal.
Type.xe2x80x94Single.
Shape.xe2x80x94Funnel-shaped, with five fissures.
Shape of petal tip.xe2x80x94Round.
Waviness of petal.xe2x80x94Weak.
Lobation of petal.xe2x80x94Shallow.
Diameter.xe2x80x94Approximately 2.8-2.9 cm.
Color.xe2x80x94Petal: Vivid reddish-purple (R.H.S. 57C, J.H.S. 9707). Base color of corolla throat: Strong yellow (R.H.S. 9A, J.H.S. 2513). Outside color of corolla tube: Light greenish-yellow (R.H.S. 5C, J.H.S. 2904).
Reproductive organs.xe2x80x941 normal pistil and 5 normal stamens.
Fertility.xe2x80x94Fertile, but self-incompatible.
Peduncle.xe2x80x94Approximately 0.7-0.8 mm in thickness, and approximately 1.9 cm in length.
Physiological and ecological characteristics.xe2x80x94High resistance to heat, rain, drought and diseases, such as powdery mildew. The resistance to heat and rain is very strong.
Blooming.xe2x80x94A bloom commonly lasts approximately 10 days on the plant. Pinching is not necessary to ensure continuous blooming; however, it does tend to enhance bloom production.
The main botanical characteristics of the xe2x80x98Sunbelkupixe2x80x99 male parent are as follows:
Plant:
Growth habit.xe2x80x94Decumbent.
Plant height.xe2x80x94Approximately 5.8-6.1 cm.
Spreading area of plant.xe2x80x94The stem extends to a length of approximately 18-19 cm from the base.
Blooming period.xe2x80x94April to late October in the southern Kanto area, Japan. The plant shape does not change throughout this period.
Stem:
Thickness.xe2x80x94Approximately 1.2 mm.
Pubescence.xe2x80x94Sparse.
Branching.xe2x80x94Very abundant with a superior branching propensity, especially secondary branches.
Length of internode.xe2x80x94Approximately 1.3 cm.
Leaf:
Shape.xe2x80x94Lanceolate.
Length.xe2x80x94Approximately 3.5 cm.
Width.xe2x80x94Approximately 1.0 cm.
Thickness.xe2x80x94Approximately 0.2-0.3 mm.
Pubescence.xe2x80x94Sparse.
Color.xe2x80x94Dark green (R.H.S. 137B, J.H.S. 3707).
Leaf attachment angle to stem.xe2x80x94Slanted upward to horizontal.
Flower:
Facing direction.xe2x80x94Slanted upward to horizontal.
Type.xe2x80x94Single.
Shape.xe2x80x94Funnel-shaped, with five fissures.
Shape of petal tip.xe2x80x94Round.
Waviness of petal.xe2x80x94Weak.
Lobation of petal.xe2x80x94Shallow.
Diameter.xe2x80x94Approximatley 2.7-2.9 cm.
Color.xe2x80x94Petal: Vivid reddish-purple (R.H.S. 74A, J.H.S. 9207). Base color of corolla throat: Bright greenish-yellow (R.H.S. 3A, J.H.S. 2905).
Outside color of corolla tube.xe2x80x94Pale yellow-green (R.H.S. 1D, J.H.S. 3102).
Reproductive organs.xe2x80x941 normal pistil and 5 normal stamens.
Fertility.xe2x80x94Fertile, but self-incompatible.
Peduncle.xe2x80x94Approximately 0.7-0.8 mm in thickness, and approximately 1.8 cm in length.
Physiological and ecological characteristics.xe2x80x94High resistance to heat, rain, drought and diseases, such as powdery mildew. The resistance to heat and rain is very strong.
Blooming.xe2x80x94A bloom commonly lasts approximately 10 days on the plant.
Pinching is not necessary to ensure continuous blooming; however, it does tend to enhance bloom production.
This new variety of Petunia plant xe2x80x98Sunbelrikupixe2x80x99 has a decumbent growth habit with abundant branching, and forms single small vivid reddish-purple flowers in a great profusion of blooms with the entire plant remaining in bloom for a considerable period of time. The plant has high tolerances to cold and heat, high resistance to pests and diseases, particularly powdery mildew, and high resistance to rain.
The plants described and depicted herein were propagated by the use of cuttings and were approximately eight months of age. Such cuttings were placed in a greenhouse in January, were transplanted in February, were further transplanted to pots in April and were thereafter placed outdoors. When present in a greenhouse, the plants were grown under controlled greenhouse conditions under full sunshine with no shielding from light. The minimum greenhouse temperature was maintained above 13xc2x0 C.